• TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Family members were in tears during the hearing at Cheshire Coroner’s Court as Coroner Jacqueline Devonish announced that she found Lucy Harrison died due to unlawful killing on the grounds of gross negligence manslaughter.

      The coroner said: "To shoot her through the chest whilst she was standing would have required him to have been pointing the gun at his daughter, without checking for bullets, and pulling the trigger.

      “I find these actions to be reckless.”

      • Triumph@fedia.io
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        3 days ago

        Yeah, still. Coroner determines cause of death and manner of death. Not what the charges are.

        • DanceMomsSavedMe@lemmy.zip
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          3 days ago

          This is a statement from a court case though.

          When called to court to testify coroners do absolutely give their opinion about the deaths.

          Also reminds me of Gary Webb’s coronor saying there is a “distinct possibility” that someone could shoot themselves twice in the head. And he wasn’t even in court

    • catboy_slim@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      In many to jurisdictions, the coroner is the only person with the authority to arrest the sheriff and is an elected position.

        • LostCarcosan@lemmy.today
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          3 days ago

          Okay so what point are you making? The coroner didn’t determine lawfulness, the court did. He just offered his opinion, as coroners do, about the actions that killed the woman.

          • village604@adultswim.fan
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            3 days ago

            My point is that the coroner’s opinion isn’t an official determination of whether the death was lawful.

            The opinion here was basically that the wounds didn’t match the defendant’s story. That’s not determining the lawfulness of the death, although it’s likely good evidence towards that determination.

            • Notyou@sopuli.xyz
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              3 days ago

              I think the fact that she is dead prove the unlawfullness of her death. Unless you can tell me a story where an unarmed person could be lawfully shot in the chest. The unlawfulness description isn’t why most people are upset about this story.

              • village604@adultswim.fan
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                3 days ago

                In Texas it’s legal to shoot a thief in the back as they’re fleeing.

                And I wasn’t speaking to what most people were upset about; I was nitpicking because 2/3 of OP’s excerpts were about the coroner.

    • [deleted]@piefed.world
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      3 days ago

      Words mean different things in different contexts. A legal finding is different than a coroner’s findings and a coroner’s opinion is different than a judges legal opinion. A coroner saying something is unlawful is different than a judge saying something is unlawful.

    • gastroglizzy@piefed.social
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      3 days ago

      They kinda do. There are five possible causes of death: homicide, suicide, accidental, natural causes, and unknown. All deaths not determined to be accidental or natural require a police investigation.

      • village604@adultswim.fan
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        3 days ago

        That still isn’t a determination of lawfulness. Homicide just means a person killed a person.

        The DA or jury determines lawfulness.